Tattoos

 You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the Lord.
Leviticus 19:28 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/lev.19.28.ESV

It's becoming increasingly popular to have tattoos of Bible verses. I've never yet seen a tattoo of Leviticus 19:28! Leviticus can be hard to unpick: does it matter if we have tattoos nowadays?

Tattoos will have been a symbol of pagan unbelief in God the Creator. If tattoos were an improvement to our skin, God will have given us them in the first place. The proliferation of tattoos even amongst professing Christians today illustrates how ungodly the professing Church is, in my opinion.

Clearly, we have to contextualise Leviticus. The food laws for example have been abolished by Jesus, when He pronounced all foods to be clean. Yet this verse refers to self harm as well, which we should clearly continue to discourage.

In the context of the chapter, this is the one that commands us to love our neighbours. Does getting a tattoo help us to love our neighbours? Not really. More importantly, it isn't an expression of love to God who prohibits them.

'Sovereign God, please help us to submit to Your authority even in countercultural matters. For Your glory we pray, amen'

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